BRIAN TINSMAN
game design, world-building, and creator of award-winning experiences in gaming and AI
ABOUT BRIAN
I am an Emmy-nominated and award-winning game designer with expertise in gameplay systems and world-building projects for online, AI, mobile, tabletop, and interactive entertainment clients. This includes feature roadmaps, characters/story, token design, and economics.
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My strengths are ecosystem design, economic tuning, and creative content development. I've done this for many gaming categories such as web games, mobile games, digital collectibles, and token systems design in Web3 gaming.
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I have 20+ years as a game designer with credits on more than 50+ shipped titles worth $800+ million in revenue. In many cases, I created gameplay systems from the ground up, championed them with internal client teams, took them through revisions, and tuned them up through launch and live service.
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That experience also turns out to be highly relevant to Web3 design and economics, which involves designing mechanisms for digital assets, modeling and balancing complex virtual economies, and using game theory to incentivize users to act in the network's best interest.
I was the lead game designer on Magic: The Gathering for 11 years. I've also worked on Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter, Transformers, Pokémon, MLB, Marvel, FarmVille, and Zynga Poker.
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My career path is all about modeling how incentives drive decisions.
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Specialties: Game Design, World-building, Economic Modeling, Game Theory, Game Monetization, Ecosystems, Community Building, Blockchain/Web3, Product Development, Whitepapers, Creative Development, Storytelling, AI, Character Design.
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SKILLS & EXPERTISE
EXPERIENCE
2022 - PRESENT
Head of Game Design, Wonders of The First CCG
WONDERS OF THE FIRST LLC, COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
I oversee the Game Design team for Wonders of The First LLC.
2019 - 2022
Game Design Lead Consultant
PREDIXA GROUP LLC, AUSTIN, TX
I lead game design and world-building projects for clients in the gaming and Web3 space. This includes gameplay systems, feature roadmaps, characters/story, token design, and tokenomics/economics. Clients: 10x Emmy Award-Winning Creative Studio, Baobab Studios, and Blokpax, a custom platform for collectors.
JAN 2016 - JUNE 2021
Cryptoeconomist, Tech Writer, Consultant
NEM.IO FOUNDATION / NEM GROUP LTD.
I led token design, tokenomics, and data analytics services for clients building cryptocurrency, blockchain, and DLT projects.
APR 2018 - FEB 2019
Lead Game Designer
HE3 LABS, DALLAS, TX
I led token design, tokenomics, and data analytics services for clients building cryptocurrency, blockchain, and DLT projects.
OCT 2016 - MAY 2018
Head of Game Design
DGN GAMES, AUSTIN, TX
I designed player incentive systems and other data-driven metagame features to help business units reach KPI goals in the highly competitive online casino game industry.
OCT 2014 - OCT 2016
Executive Producer Dungeon Boss Mobile
BOSS FIGHT ENTERTAINMENT, DALLAS,TX
I led design teams for massively multiplayer games on iOS and Android with a focus on economics, guilds, and game-theory-driven incentive systems.
OCT 2013 - OCT 2014
Creative Director
DISNEY INTERACTIVE, AUSTIN, TX
I held the vision and designed specifications for new online products in Disney's strategy games category.
APR 2011 - OCT 2013
Director of Game Design
ZYNGA, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
I created features and led data-driven game design on titles representing over 800 million players, such as Farmville, Zynga Poker, Chefville, Dream Zoo, War of the Fallen, and others
APR 2007 - APR 2011
Senior Game Designer, Producer
WIZARDS OF THE COAST, RENTON, WA
I led design on numerous Magic: the Gathering sets representing over $400 million in revenue. I headed the game design department of WotC R&D.
SEPT 2006 - APR 2007
Lead Game Designer
FLOWPLAY, SEATTLE, WA
I led the design team in building the alpha version of OurWorld, a casual puzzle-based MMO with over 75 million players worldwide. I created the earliest version of the economic system.
1998 - 2005
Senior Game Designer, Producer
WIZARDS OF THE COAST, RENTON, WA
I was responsible for guiding new products through the product development life cycle for new product. I headed New Concept Acquisitions efforts, reviewing game licensing opportunities. I was the lead producer for Magic Online and a lead designer for Magic: The Gathering trading card game.
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OTHER: Guest lecturer at University of Washington and the University of Texas.
Member of the Board of Advisors at Digital Future Lab.
Brian presenting on game design at the Capital Factory in Austin, Texas.
PUBLISHED GAMES
& BOOKS
EDUCATION
2000
MBA, Economics
At the University of Washington I earned an MBA with a focus in economics, studying how preference for risk and reward influences asset prices.
1995
BA, Evoluntionary Anthropology
2000 - Present
Additional Learning
Many engineering, cryptoeconomics management, communications, public speaking, and writing courses. Guest Lecturer at U of Washington - Bothell.
Certification in Python and R, Statistics, Data Science, Time Series Analysis, and Visualization.